Danielle Steel and Craft Brew

While I was having a grand old time in California, Paul was keeping the home fires burning.  As a thank you to him, I went on a special mission.  I was armed with a list of California beers that aren't distributed in Minnesota.  Paul had located a beer store in San Francisco that had a lot of the beers he was interested in trying.  So, one morning, I made it a top priority to secure and send my honey a box o' beer.

My route to the store took me through a rather posh neighborhood.  Shortly after passing the German Consulate, I came upon this grand building with an enormous hedge blocking the view.  I figured it was likely a museum or another embassy/consulate building.  Because I was curious and had the time, I hiked up to the top of the very steep block to what I expected was the front of the building.

When I got to the top, I could see a bit more of the gorgeous and stately building.  I also found that there were more hedges, but no front door!

The only entrance seemed to be this little side door.  I thought that was strange, so now I was even MORE curious about the building.  A google search revealed that the building is the Spreckels Mansion.  Google also told me that it is the largest private residence in San Francisco and is owned by Danielle Steel.

So, I accidentally found Danielle Steel's house and then, when I was trying to take a photo of the view from the top of the hill, I also accidentally saw her dogs as they were headed out for a walk.

Here is the shot of the view that I was after.  Pretty impressive, Danielle.

With the mystery solved, I continued on my way to the beer store.

Thanks to the very helpful and generous staff member, I not only got the items on Paul's list.  I also got a bottle of Cantillon for him, which I hear is a big, big score.  All of the beers made it home, safe and sound and, according to Paul, were well worth the small fortune it took to ship it.